Yes I know the Lightning sorc thing has been done to death. But I don't have one yet, so here goes.

Intro:
This is not intended to be a guide. Guides are written so that the author can help the readers. Iâ€™m writing this so that you all can help me. Any decent guide discusses options and alternatives. It points the reader in the right direction and then guides them along the way. Iâ€™m going to stick to the equipment and options I have and I can get. I will focus on the single best way of doing it, not all the different ways of doing it. Specifically Iâ€™m a PvM player and I like to MF. I like to be able to solo every part of the game as well as contribute to big group runs.

I'm going to try to tie it all together into a build. I've decided to vary the standard equipment set a little bit and go for 200% FCR. I've never done a 200% FCR sorc before so this will be new territory for me. There are a few good reasons why I think a 200% FCR Lightning sorc can be godly. For most sorcs you have to sacrifice a lot of good gear to hit 200% FCR. But for a wealthy lightning sorc thereâ€™s very little sacrifice to hit 200% FCR. (for my equipment Iâ€™m loosing 3 potential skills, but it is possible to only loose 2 skills) The damage and speed are unrivaled in the worlds of sorcs. Not only do we pass the 200% FCR limit for Teleport and charged bolt, but we pass the 194% breakpoint for lightning and chain lightning.

This will decrease our Lightning synergy % from 480% to 328% and our CL synergy % from 240% to 164% equating to a net effective loss of about 25% damage for Lightning and Chain Lightning. Charged Bolt (our main boss killer) is unaffected. From this loss we gain an 70-80% redirection in damage from an slvl 15-25 energy shield with 125% reduction in mana lost from a level 20 Telekinesis. My first though it that this is worth it, but remember that weâ€™ll have less mana than a typical lightning sorc (our +% mana gear is all swapped out for %FCR gear). Weâ€™ll have to look at this again at the end.

This is normally pretty easy, but when we get into the gear options youâ€™ll see that itâ€™s not going to be so simple. Our non-blocking sorc may need points into dexterity, strength is a big issue, and our non-ES build will have a large demand for mana. Weâ€™ll be working with a fair amount of rare or magical gear so itâ€™s not even like we can predetermine our gear ahead of time. In order to balance your stat points perfectly youâ€™ll actually have to have all your end game gear on hand before you complete the build.

Gear:
Thereâ€™s not a lot of wiggle room here, but a little more than your typical 200% FCR fireball sorc. Lots of spendy stuff here too, donâ€™t try to go cheap â€“ youâ€™ll be better off with some other build.

Helm:
Griffonâ€™s Diadem. (Really no room for compromise here. +1 skill, +10-15% Lightning Damage -15-25% Enemy Lightning Resistance and 25% Fast Cast Rate. I wish we could get these exact mods on all of our gear. About the only other option would be to get a 20% FCR circlet, but even with godly mods I donâ€™t think it could ever be better than Griffonâ€™s. I'll stay with the trend on facet my griffons)

Weapon:
Wizzard Spike or Hoto. (Either way we need lots of resists and FCR. I suppose a Eschuta could work, but we really need resists here. Going with Wizzy will get you 10% more FCR and more resists than Hoto, but youâ€™ll loose 3 skills. You can somewhat make up for the loss of skills by faceting the Wizzy with a lightning facet, but youâ€™ll still loose damage. Wizzy will also take 75 dex to carry, so even with a perfect anni and torch youâ€™ll still need to get some more dex somewhere. No matter which we choose weâ€™ll get some extra mana so that helps)

Shield:
Spirit Monarch. (Again, no real room for compromise. Technically it is possible with a lidless, but loosing 15% FCR will mean that everything else needs to be near perfect. Weâ€™ll need all the FCR we can get. In fact this build really works best with a perfect +35% FCR spirit. In addition to the FCR we get +2 skills, 55% FHR, about 100 Mana and 22 Vit. All great stuff, the only downside is that weâ€™ll need 156 Str to equip this thing. Even with good gear weâ€™ll still end up pumping our base str over 100 probably..

Armor:
Skin of the Viper Magi, Upâ€™d and possibly Umâ€™d (No wiggle room here again. Ormus Robes or Qui-Hegans both come with 10% less FCR and they donâ€™t get us any better mods anyway. We can really use the 30% FCR. Getting up to 35% resist all and +1 skill helps too. Look to facet or Um this thing, possibly P Topaz?)

Gloves:
Magefists, Upâ€™d two times (You can swap these out for Trang gloves if you want. Both will give you 20% FCR. Magefists come with mana regen and +1 fire skill (which only helps our warmth), Trangâ€™s come with cold resist. Your call really.)

Belt:
Arachnids Mesh (+1 skill and 20% FCR, nothing else will work)

Boots:
Lots of options here really. Infernostride will come with fire resists which your spirit shield lacks. Waterwalk comes with dex which you may need for wizzy and life which is always helpful. Silkweaves come with mana â€“ this may be the best choice for ES builds. War Travâ€™s are known for their nice MF but also come with str and vit â€“ probably best for PvM. Sandstorm Treks come with FHR and str and vit, they also add in nice poison resistance. Marrowwalk come with str and dex. It doesnâ€™t really matter here, thereâ€™s even a bunch of rare boots that will fit in nicely. Iâ€™ll go with War Travâ€™s just because this is a MF char for me, but you could sure go with something else.

Amulet:
Crafted +2 skill, 20% FCR, hopefully some resists and life/mana or stat points too. Because weâ€™re working with crafted stuff it will really depend on what you can find/make/afford. Iâ€™ve landed a nice +2 skill, 10% FCR amy with resists. That means I need to make up 10% FCR somewhere else. The only other places with wiggle room are weapon or rings.

Rings:
SOJâ€™s or FCR Rings, preferably with resists and life/mana and stat points again. If you have enough FCR, by all means go with SOJâ€™s here whenever possible. You need both the skill and the extra mana. A godly FCR ring is nice. If you can pick up all the mods I mentioned it will really help too.

Sockets:
Really the best options for sockets are going to be lightning facets for more damage. Umâ€™s for resistance could be used too. I can also see Berâ€™ing your armor for some DR%, but anything else would be stretching it. Any stat points you may need can be had with charms.

Charms:
Anni and Torch of course. We need strength and possibly dex in addition to the normal demands on vit and energy, so skimping with some cheap ones will mean we have to make up the difference somewhere. PvP will of course want 9x skillers with life or FHR. But Iâ€™m not into PvP so Iâ€™ll use Gheedâ€™s for the MF (this is still a MF char) and make room for the cube. Iâ€™ll add in a few chams to make sure my resistance is maxed for non-es builds, but Iâ€™ll probably let my resists sit where they may if I go with ES. If I do go ES, Iâ€™ll add in a few skillers just to pump my damage and ES. I generally like to have at least 4 columns open in inventory in addition to the cube just for drops.

Weapon Switch:
CTA is always nice to have around, but I probably wonâ€™t keep it slotted full time (thatâ€™s what the cube is for). Iâ€™d like to keep an infinity on switch myself in case the merc dies. Even if I did a weapon switch, Iâ€™d still be casting with 125% FCR. I normally keep a gull/rhyme or ali-baba/4xIst Monarch on switch for the boss kills. Hmm, canâ€™t do all three. I suppose Iâ€™ll keep them in the stash and decide what I want to carry before each run and which goes in the cube.

Equipment Summery:
If we get the maximum FCR out of every space there is, that would be 220% FCR. That means that we have 20% to play with. Iâ€™d like to use Hoto instead of Wizzy to get more skills. Iâ€™d also like to use at least 1 SOJ for the skill and mana. But I donâ€™t have a 20% FCR amy, so I canâ€™t do both. I do have some nice FCR rings with resist all and stats, so Iâ€™ll go with Hoto and 2x FCR rings instead of Wizzy, 1 FCR ring and 1 SOJ. This way I donâ€™t have to worry about dex either. So hereâ€™s the final lay out.

Skills: +9 all, +5 sorc â€“ not too bad before adding skillers.
FCR: 200% - perfect.
FHR: 55% - Iâ€™ll add 5% more here from a SC to hit the 60% breakpoint.
Resists: With perfect resists on Hoto, Viper Magi, FCR rings (15% is possible), Torch and Anni you can have maxâ€™d resists in hell. My gear isnâ€™t perfect, but spirit does come with 35% resistance to three elements and I can make up the difference in charms. No need to resort to Umâ€™ing gear.
MF: 90% - No my war travâ€™s arenâ€™t perfect, but my gheeds is and I have 3% MF as a mod on my amy. This is still pretty lacking for a MF char. Iâ€™ll try to add a few MF SCâ€™s or I guess I could P topaz my viper magi.

Merc:
I really like the slowing effect of the NM Act 2 Defensive merc. His holy freeze aura is great for teleporting. Defiance could also be used for more def, or even a might merc if heâ€™s having problems killing the remaining few lightning immunes
Weapon: Infinity Polearm is obviously the best bet here. I have a decent Eth CV at the moment, so his damage is decent too. We need the conviction to break the immunes and a strong weapon to kill the few that canâ€™t be broken.
Helm: Andyâ€™s (ralâ€™d) or Vamp Gaze (IAS) will work. Just look for Life Leech and IAS. DR% is nice too.
Armor: Eth Fort is probably the best, but Eth Stone is decent too. Just get lots of def and some resists here along with some FHR.

Damage and comparisons â€“ coming soon.

So far I've purchased all the gear above and I'm on level 41. It is coming nicely. Any suggestions/improvments are welcome. This is my first pure lightning sorc so I'm kinda on unfamiliar ground. You can maybe catch me US East sometime if you want.

Your sorc's gear is fine. Stick with HotO. When you get a 20% FCR +2 sorc skills crafted ammy, you can ditch one of the FCR rings for a SoJ, which will help with your mana. -5% lightning facets for both the helm and armour. Forget Ber'ing... you are max vita, so stay out of melee. Resists will be a small issue with Torch and Anni.

I'd forego ES. SC and PvM, go with all guns blazing and pump your damage to the max. Not only for L and CL, but more for CB. Even if you did max TK, pre-buff a slvl 40 ES and pump energy, you don't have the DRx and MDRx of a 'true' ES sorc. And you need your mana for spamming CB at 7 fpc and L/CL at 11 fpc.

Taking energy from base to 50 is nothing, even with +% mana items. You get an additional 30 mana for the 15 stat points spent. Nothing. With no Insight, get used to drinking super mana pots. It isn't a big deal once you make a habit of it.

If you get to the giddy heights of clvl 99-ish, 1 point in Frozen Armour, but only when your build is complete.

For the merc, I prefer an eth GPA for Infinity... speed is king, and GPA is no slouch even when compared to the slower CV. Andy's Face with a 15% IAS, fire resist jewel. At high merc levels, his fire resists will be high enough, even if not maxed, and the leech will more than make up for any fire damage he sustains. Especially with an eth Fortitude.

EDIT:
And despite this very appealing idea of 200% FCR and lots of +skills, I still refuse to install RWM. :stuckup:

Is there anyway for a true gosu sorc to reach 200 FCR and still maintain respectable skill levels? My own gosu sorc (which currently has 40 DR and 45 MDR, and will go a bit higher than that once she can wear Gladiator's Bane) can survive rpetty much anything 'cept mana burn, but all she can get is 80% FCR.

However, with her 421 energy, she doesn't even need Insight Sure she'll occasionally need to drink a blue pot, but thats only after she takes a severe beating. Otherwise, warmth and ridiculous high base mana takes care of it all.

Is there anyway for a true gosu sorc to reach 200 FCR and still maintain respectable skill levels? My own gosu sorc (which currently has 40 DR and 45 MDR, and will go a bit higher than that once she can wear Gladiator's Bane) can survive rpetty much anything 'cept mana burn, but all she can get is 80% FCR.

However, with her 421 energy, she doesn't even need Insight Sure she'll occasionally need to drink a blue pot, but thats only after she takes a severe beating. Otherwise, warmth and ridiculous high base mana takes care of it all.

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LOL, you must hate baal's mana burn like hell...
Ironically I love Uber Baal for the same reason, since he is cold immune, I have no use of my mana anyway, and he keeps burning my mana instead of trying to hurt me

Do I dare venture back to the SPF??? Sure, I guess no one bit me last time - did get my shin kicked in the bar though.

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It might be different this time...

In the past 1/2 week I've had two rabid dogs psychotically snapping at my heels. All the more surprising considering that I was just minding my own business, and not even being disagreeable, which I can be if I put my mind to it. :shocked:

Cool beans. I guess I didn't talk you into the infinity-toting sorc When you are done, can we compare pvp damage against my barb?

My suggestion would be non-es all vita.. none in energy, and of course as little as possible in strength... if you aren't too sure about going with base energy just hold some points until you get your final gear on... with charged bolt and lightning you shouldn't have to eat too many pots... I'd stay away from chain lightning most of the time though. Make sure to grab one 5fhr sc so you hit the 60fhr bp... 86fhr shouldn't be neccessary for pvm.

Your setup also allows to easily switch to chancies, skulders, shako... in case you want to fool around with more mf later and still have reasonable kill speed.

Yeah, I figure once I'm done with her I can swap gear around quite a bit. I probably won't get around to try to hold my own infinity for a while though. (I'd have to buy a new one first).

Hopefully a few more nights of baal running will get me into the level 85+ area (didn't make any real progress last night - spent all my time trading). I'll be glad to fire a few shots at your barb when she's ready.

*ooh, just remembered I can't equip my amy until level 89. That may take a while. I need to rebuy a griffons too - someone offered double what I paid for for the first one, so how could I refuse. Maybe this time I'll get a good one.

I sold a 10/16 griffons. This thing was actually lousy enought that I was going to put my 4/4 light facet in it. Weird to think that I could have faceted it and still have below average stats.

I guess I didn't talk you into the infinity-toting sorc

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You know I actually got my infintity a long time before I ever thought about doing this. I had aquired a bit of weath with my meteorb and hammerdin and was looking for things to buy. I saw someone selling their infinity for 3 hrs, which seemed like a good deal, as it takes more runes than that to make it. When we got to the trade screen I saw it was an eth CV type. Ironically I had just started the thread about the best weapon for merc infinity and decided that I was going to hold out for an eth GPA or maybe hold it myself. But the price was right - what was I going to do, tell him I didn't want his hr valued pole, I wanted a cheaper scythe version? In the end my meoerb was thankful for some extra damage from the conviction.

But once I had the infinity, I figured I better start planning out a light sorc. This is the first build I've done that I actually had all the gear on hand before I started anything.

I sold a 10/16 griffons. This thing was actually lousy enought that I was going to put my 4/4 light facet in it. Weird to think that I could have faceted it and still have below average stats.

You know I actually got my infintity a long time before I ever thought about doing this. I had aquired a bit of weath with my meteorb and hammerdin and was looking for things to buy. I saw someone selling their infinity for 3 hrs, which seemed like a good deal, as it takes more runes than that to make it. When we got to the trade screen I saw it was an eth CV type. Ironically I had just started the thread about the best weapon for merc infinity and decided that I was going to hold out for an eth GPA or maybe hold it myself. But the price was right - what was I going to do, tell him I didn't want his hr valued pole, I wanted a cheaper scythe version? In the end my meoerb was thankful for some extra damage from the conviction.

But once I had the infinity, I figured I better start planning out a light sorc. This is the first build I've done that I actually had all the gear on hand before I started anything.

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Oh, I see. I was thinking that other thread was to determine which type you would make next. For pvm I play both... the only time it makes a huge difference to hold it yourself (imho) is for nihl runs and for chaos runs.

I'm always wondering how Fort will work on this kind of sorc builds, comparing to upp'ed Viper. The advantage of Viper is obvious, +1 skill, 30FCR and good resistance, optionally you can socket it with either an Um for more resist or a facet for more damage (but not both of course:smiley. On the other hand, Fort offers 25FCR, and up to 30 resist all, so not far from a good Viper. But Fort adds a lot life (not BO-able unfortunately), which means you can save some points in vitality and put them into energy (especially for a ES build). Also Fort comes with CTC for Chilling Armor, so it saves a skill point or two as well. The +5 max lightning resist means 20% less lightning damage comparing to 75 lightning resist. The other mods and high defense are just nice too.
I'm just wondering if anyone has tried using Fort on caster-type sorcs before.

Hmm, never thought about fort for a caster. I don't see if for a 200% FCR lightning sorc (I need all the FCR and +skills I can get) but definetly a worthwhile idea for most builds. Hmm, I'm starting to think about a dual dream build - I can see fort fitting nicely there.

Oh, I see. I was thinking that other thread was to determine which type you would make next. For pvm I play both... the only time it makes a huge difference to hold it yourself (imho) is for nihl runs and for chaos runs.

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Well, I had the eCV Infinity I just wanted to make sure It was a good idea to let your merc carry it. Looking at that huge -enemy lightning resist was hard to ignore. I really thought (before I looked at the numbers) that a sorc carrying it herself would have a huge advantage across the spectum of enemies. As is turns out its a mixed bag of pros and cons - I can live with that. (carrying it yourself is better against monsters that were originally lightning immune, but not as effective againt non-immunes) I'd still like to get a 2nd sorc infinity for chaos runs and the like, but that's a pretty low priority. If the numbers all said that lightning sorcs need to carry it yourself, I probably wouldn't have attempted a light sorc. (Infinity in a meteorb really up's the damage there too)

I try to set up the all my number comparisons without bias - but it's hard to drop pre-concieved ideas sometimes. Even in the end when you have the raw numbers it can still be tough to see what it means. (how many times do we still get into the partial tal vs full tal debate.)

I've "finished" my 200% FCR Lighting sorc. Well - I guess you never really "finish" anything - there's always a little more tweaking to do. But she's finally at level 89. I'm calling this "finished" as I as can wear the good +2 skill crafted amy's (I currently have a +2/10FCR amy - waiting to get a 20FCR one.) I also have all my resists maxed in hell (thanks to FR SCâ€™s). I'd like to try to get her level 94-95 so I can finish maxing nova and maybe 1 pt in the first cold armor, but Iâ€™m not in any hurry there. I think lvl 93 is generally the preferred level for gambling and crafting amy's anyway isn't it? What's the preferred level for gambling circlets/diadems? Itâ€™s like 95 or 96 isn't it?

I figure my gear is only +3 skills short of a "perfect" lightning sorc (excluding skillers, of which I have none). (You have to sacrifice some +skill gear to hit 200% FCR - well worth it for the added speed IMHO.) If I ever do get a +2/20 amy, then I'll add in an SOJ and I'll only be 2 skills off from perfect. I also need to get some -5% facets for my griffon's and v magi - but no real hurry there.

I recently treaded off my eCV infinity for a 5BO CTA. I finally got an eth 4os GPA so I'll be making a better infinity soon (gotta sell my old 3BO CTA first). I was running Vamp Gaze (IAS jeweled) and Leviathon (Umâ€™d) for a while for lots of DR%, but Iâ€™m finding the Andyâ€™s + Eth Fort to do a better job (He tanks souls and cows better with fort).

Thoughts so far:
My first thoughts are "damn she's fast". I find myself running the countess and summoner for keys again and not minding it. The fast teleport is awesome. I've been hosting a lot of baal run games with her and my success rate at making it to the throne untouched has gone up compared to my meteorbs. Not a big difference but I'm probably at like 99% success vs 98% (Still a bit of a problem as my very old laptop lags whenever I go through a door - not a problem going from WSK 2 to 3, but lagging inside the door of the thone room can be fatal.) I'm finding that I play a lot more offensively than I used too. That much speed and damage cause you to get a little too aggressive.

While I am enjoying my new sorc, I'm feeling kinda limited. She's a great T and H key runner (countess and summoner). I've been running cows for lots of socketables â€“ sheâ€™s awesome there. She also does baal runs pretty well as I've said, but that's about it. She can run anything, but whatâ€™s the point. I'm currently running with 0% MF! Trying to add some in without loosing my casting speed is proving to be a problem. Of course the first step is to grab my 40% gheeds from my meteorb. I can also ditch my boots for war trav's, but that's about it for easy swaps. (I'm currently using silkweaves for the extra mana, but I can probably just drink more pots.) A friend pretty much gave me an Istâ€™d Eschuta which I may play around with, but thatâ€™s only 30% MF at the loss of 36% resist all â€“ probably not worth it. I currently have my CTA on switch (and I need the life & mana boost) so thereâ€™s not any room for gull/rhyme or 2x Ist Alibaba/4x Ist Monarch without going into inventory. I was hoping to run D keys with her too â€“ but I canâ€™t add in a natureâ€™s peace without dropping a FCR ring. Suggestions anyone?

Getting a 20% FCR amy should probably be my next priority as that will allow me to choose between an SOJ, Nagel or Natureâ€™s Peace ring. Iâ€™ll probably even accept some loss of skills here for the added FCR. At least thatâ€™ll give me a little flexibility. I may try to get a FCR/Resist/MF ring too, if its not too expensive. Iâ€™m used to running with 350-500% MF, maybe I just need to accept running with about 100% MF. This build feels like it wants to be PvP, not PvM.

The build is feeling a little more fragile than Iâ€™m used to also. This may just be me playing too aggressively. It doesnâ€™t come with a lot of +life or +mana like Iâ€™m used to getting from Tal set on my meteorbs. While you donâ€™t have to sacrifice a lot of +skills to hit 200% FCR, you do sacrifice a lot of +life, +mana and DR% gear. But my resists are maxed just like my meteorbs and the def is about the same. The 5BO CTA really helps, but I donâ€™t survive too long if I accidentally tele into a pack of cows. Fortunately I do last long enough to quickly tele back out. I guess thatâ€™s good enough.

Iâ€™m not having a lot of success spamming CB from point blank range. (she does throw out an impressive carpet of CB though.) I lack the durability to absorb the damage. When my merc is taking all the heat it helps, but not a whole lot. Maybe my aiming is still off, but I donâ€™t see charged bolt doing any more damage than straight lightning.

Iâ€™ve thought about remaking her with some ES for added durability (already started the char actually). How do you think it would work if I kept my equipment about the same (i.e. 200% FCR)? Do ES builds really need the PDR/MDR gear to work effectively? Would it be good enough if I just Solâ€™d & Malâ€™d my armor and helm? My current amy and rings do have a few points in PDR. I also have to wonder about going with 1 hard point in ES & 20 in TK. Is an slvl 30 ES enough or do you really need to hit slvl 40 for ES? (slvl 40 ES will require about 10-15 hard points into ES even with a good memory staff and a few skillers.)

I realize I never really responed about these two. Both used FO along with a 200% FCR charged bolt. It seems like a waste to have such a nice FCR and use FO. With the advent on Infinity I don't see why a 2nd tree is needed either.

In their defense, you could get by with a CM less than the typical slvl 17. Even if you only put 1 point in CM and get to an slvl 12 or so, conviction will probably keep everything at -100% resitant. I guess that gives you a good 2nd tree attack for only about 25 points. Usefull, but no longer needed IMHO.